When should you upgrade your mobile phone?

There are several reasons to upgrade your phone; maybe your hardware is no longer good enough for the updated software, or perhaps you’re no longer getting everything you wanted out of the handset. However, it’s not always the right choice, and there are times when it’s better to wait for the right moment – but how do you know when that is?

Contract upgrades

If you have a contract with your phone network, you’re usually eligible for a phone upgrade one month before the end of your contract. This is because the network wants to retain your loyalty for another few months, and as such you’re likely to get better deals from them than you would from other companies as a new customer. Don’t rely on this though, and do your research – find the cheapest deal you can from any provider, and then ask your current provider if they can beat it. If they can’t, you only have a month before you can switch!

Software issues

If you’re not coming to the end of your contract or you’re a PAYG user and you just want to upgrade, it’s worth looking at how your current phone is running. Older Android and iPhone handsets are struggling to keep up with new operating system releases, meaning that if you don’t have a device built for the heavier software, you could be experiencing trouble as your phone struggles to run it. Take a look round and test some other handsets for comparison – you may not even know what you’re missing out on!

Market timing

If you have a specific handset in mind, it’s often worth waiting until an upgraded version is released. This way, you can choose between the very top-end hardware, or try to find a cheaper deal on what will by then be an older device. This requires a great deal of patience, and some research into upcoming smartphones, but it’s worth it – the potential savings are massive, and you won’t suffer the disappointment of buying one only to see a better version released a week later!

Whether you’ve a specific phone in mind, or you’re just thinking about your options, don’t forget to always read reviews of the handset in question. The internet offers an endless supply of knowledge, from expert articles to YouTube videos on almost all phones available on the market – use this to your advantage to get the device that’s right for you!